Trans Pan Broken Bolt!

So I decided to do an oil change for the motor and transmission the other day, the engine oil change was easy and fast; however, the transmission oil to some time. unscrewing the bolts was easy, the pan was sealed with layers of silicon, and the oil was black and filthy. I changed the filter in the transmission, cleaned the pan and continued to but everything back into place. As I was tightening everything down the 3rd to last bolt I had to tighten out of the ten snapped! The head of the bolt came of with the thread, the other half is in the transmission. The worst part is that the oil is spilling from the pan side from the opposite side of the bolt that snapped! Tomorrow I am going to try to drill and screw in another bolt and pull it out and seal it with heat resistant silicon! If it doesn't work, can any suggest other solutions to this please?! I don't want to have this leak!

 

You need to try to extract the bolt and silicone is a bad thing for an automatic transmission. Also those bolts don't need to be very tight. Overtightening will squeeze the gasket and tear it.

 

There was silicon already around the pan lip before I took it off. I know that I Need to get that bolt out but I don't know how, that's what I am asking for! I had only hand tightened the bolts because I the bolts were hand tightened when I took them off, they were easy enough to take of by hand! I also wanted to know where can I but more of the same bolts so that I can replace the one the snapped!

 

Google "easy out"...Buy a set of em...Remove the broken bolt. You should be able to purchase a comparable bolt at the local hardware store. Take a good bolt with you for comparison. Use a cork gasket on the trans pan...The rubber ones are junk, unless you find a steel cored one. Put some contact adhesive on the gasket (Just enough to stick it to the pan) Put it back together. Try to save your fresh trans fluid by draining it into a clean catch pan too. Good luck!

 

Make sure all surfaces are free of any oil before putting adhesive on it. Sometimes when people take of the pan they pry it and bend the pan so take a good look at it and make sure it isnt tweaked, hence the layers of sealant.
Try and use a center punch on the broken bolt as close to center of the bolt as possible and start out with a small drill bit and be careful not to break it then go to bigger bits. If you use an easy out just go until the head of the easy out slips inside the hole then pound it in with a hammer. Sometimes if you are lucky you can just keep drilling and eventually you will be able to get the broken piece out. If you happen to get into the threads you will have to get a tap and redo the threads.

You may get lucky and enough of the bolt will be sticking out to get some pliers on it and unscrew it but not usually, sometimes you can get a hacksaw and cut a slice in it and use a screwdriver to unscrew it.

 

If you can drill in the center of the bolt,and it is only hand tight, a left handed drill bit will pull it out. Just use a bit large enough to not break off. If you can grab it with pliers it should come out pretty easy.

 

"I had only hand tightened the bolts"

if you broke that bolt hand tightening it, you have other problems...
I use a socket on a 1/4" drive ratchet and two fingers to tighten them....
you could lock tight a stud in that hole.

 

I agree with Mavman72. Your local hardware store will have the correct size "Easy out" Just take one of the bolts with you. Buy the appropriate sized bit to drill into the stub. After drilling a small hole into the stub, you tap the Easy Out tool into the stub with a light hammer. Once seated, you turn the Easy Out with vise grips. It tightens up with left hand tourqe and the stub should spin out.

MD

 

Thank You to all of you! I bought the easy-out set and used a center punch to mark where to drill. As soon as I began to use the smaller drill but I noticed that it was still loose and decide to switch from use a drill to a hammer and chisel. It worked and I now have the remaining bolt out! I bought other bolts at the hardware store but I bought some that are 1/8" longer over bolts that are 1/8" shorter than the original bolts. I am having them shaved down to its original size but I had to reorder another filter and gasket set since they didn't sell gaskets separately. I will continue to finish put the trans pan tomorrow but I am happy that I have the bolt out! Thanks again guys!

 

This might be a little off topic but you may want to consider replacing the pan with an aluminum one. Although they are somewhat expensive, you get a much thicker and rigid mating surface for better gasket seal, usually an additional quart capacity, and a drain plug.

 

+1 for easy out. I have a generic brand from home depot in the same style and works fine. I broke the bolt in my trans pan when I first got my car trying to take it out haha - No fun~!

Easy out saves the day

 

I finally have everything set! both engine and trans oils are changed, no leaks and no more broken bolts! However, I am experiencing a new problem that persuaded me to take it to the shop tomorrow for inspection! I kept the trans oil the same but the engine oil was changed to Royal Purple's Synthetic Oil 10W-30 in stead of Pennzoil 10W-30! There car runs so much differently. I know it is only a day after all has been fixed but since my first start up yesterday after the pan was reinstalled the engine sounded different! Not only that, since then the transmission stalls after every initial start up and constantly feels like I am driving in 2nd or 3rd gear until a few minutes pass or I drive for a block and it goes back to normal. At first I though it was because I just put in new oil and it need to lubricate the parts but now it is very suspicious and worries me! what should I do!

 

how many miles on transmission?
maybe some of the old silicon got in the transmission...

 

sounds like insufficient amount or incorrect vacuum source to the trans modulator. Should be hooked to FULL engine manifold vacuum source since that controls the trans line pressure and everything goes wonky without it.

 

Did you change the trans filter??? If so...There is a small check ball and spring in the valve body that likes to fall out when you remove the trans filter. May want to check the catch pan you drained the old fluid into when you changed it. May find your problem there.